


Unforgiven

by MrProphet



Series: Unforgiving [2]
Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 08:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10693587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	Unforgiven

Merlin stormed out of the throne room, leaving the assembled crowd agog. He knew that by publicly denouncing Uther he had delayed the realisation of his dream, perhaps even dealt it a death blow, but he could not have allowed the King’s cruel charade to continue. His reign would, even now, be terrible, but his power would not be absolute and, Merlin suspected, his rule would be short.

“There will be chaos.”

Merlin turned sharply. He did not ask how Morgana had managed to catch up with him; Tintagel was her home and she must know every path.

“The King has made it clear that he will no longer heed my advice.”

“And so you turn your back on all you have done?” the girl challenged. Her dark eyes burned with rage and even Merlin felt something deep within himself quail at the sight.

“I tried to forge peace…”

“You gave my mother to that monster,” Morgana said softly.

“Uther’s deeds…”

Morgana took a step towards the bard. “ _You_  transformed him,” she accused. “I saw the man who came to my mother as my father died. I knew your work at once. It was masterful,” she allowed, “but his bearing was wrong. Even my mother saw it, although she could not believe it. She could not see what you were capable of.”

“Morgana…”

The flaming eyes closed for a moment and a spasm of pain flickered across Morgana’s features. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t use my name, bard; you don’t have the right. You have made me and my sisters hostages to our mother’s degradation.”

Merlin hung his head in shame. “I am…” He could not bring himself to complete the apology, it seemed so mean and worthless now. “I thought that I could control him,” he admitted, “contain his baser nature and forge a great and peaceful kingdom beneath his banner.”

Morgana shook her head. “He was never the one,” she assured him. “Uther is and always will be a tyrant. You know as well as, if not better than, I that it is not Uther but his son who will rule your Summer Kingdom. The son that he has got on my mother by treachery and deceit; by  _your_  deceit, bard.”

Unnerved by the clarity of the girl’s vision, Merlin turned away. He was tried to think, but he was too filled with shame and possessed by self-loathing to clear his mind. “Your cousin…” he began.

“Mark shall never have me,” she assured him. “I shall keep a knife sharp for the day either he or Uther tries to force me to that altar, and not for my own breast,” she added. Merlin’s relief was greater than he could admit.

“Your brother’s kingdom…” Merlin began.

Morgana shook her head. “Do not tell me that it shall be worth it,” she told him. “Get out of my sight, and may you never know a night of peace after your work in this war.”

“Believe me, my Lady, I shall not,” he told her. “It was neither my wish nor my will that your father should die.”

“No,” she agreed. “Merely a price that you accepted. But fear not; I know my cousin’s sins and he shall answer his own account in full when the time is right.”

Merlin swallowed hard, appalled by the unfettered rage in her eyes when she spoke of her cousin. “My Lady,” he whispered, and he turned and fled.

Morgana watched him go, blinking back the tears that sprang into her eyes. “Damn you,” she whispered, wishing that she could banish the disappointment that she felt. “You were so  _perfect_ ,” she accused the fleeing bard, too softly for him to hear. “How dare you fall so far?”

She shook her head. “This can not be forgiven,” she declared, lifting her voice defiantly. “I swear that I will be your ruin, Merlin ap Taliesin!”

Her voice echoed around the passageway, returning to her ears with a hard and leaden finality and she knew that the oath which she had sworn was now fixed fast in the very stones of Tintagel. She was bound now and she would fight Merlin at every turn. Never mind that she loved him, or that she shared his vision; his crime could not be forgiven and no paradise could be built on such an act of treachery.

She would see to that, even if it broke her heart to do it.


End file.
